X-Men Director Bryan Singer on the Once and Future Franchise

This Friday, 20th Century Fox is turning back the clock and inviting Marvel Comics fans to visit their X-Men universe in the 1980s as part of Bryan Singer’s latest mutant ensemble, X-Men: Apocalypse. All this week, we’ll be bringing you interviews with the film’s cast and crew, continuing today in a conversation with the X-Men director himself. Check it out in the player below!

Sitting down with the X-Men director, we’re chatting about the X-Universe as a whole and exactly what he means when he calls this film a “conclusion.” We also talk about two of the recurring references in the X-Men films: T.H. White’s “The Once and Future King” and Star Trek. As it did in Days of Future Past, the original Trek plays a minor role in Apocalypse and Bryan Singer even reveals an X2 connection to Star Trek that hasn’t been confirmed until now!

Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshiped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.